EOD Airmen help keep community safe

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Victor J. Caputo
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Two Airmen from the 22nd Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal team responded to an emergency call four hours away from base in Garden City, Kansas, on the night of April 5.

A family found two old grenades while going through the footlocker of a relative who used to be in the military.

"A lot of times, you have someone who might have been in World War II or the Vietnam War, and they brought a grenade home as souvenir," said Master Sgt. Joshua, 22nd CES EOD flight superintendent. "Over the years, it ends up in a box or in their attic. After they pass on, their families begin to sort through their belongings and all of a sudden they find a set of grenades in a box."

In this instance, local authorities contacted the 22nd CES EOD team for their expertise in military ordnance. The two grenades were removed from the property after careful inspection and detonated in a safe area.

The 22nd CES EOD team assists authorities in three quarters of Kansas and one quarter of Oklahoma on a regular basis, averaging 12 off-base responses per year, said Joshua.

The almost year-long technical training school that all Department of Defense EOD technicians attend helps make them experts on the proper handling techniques of all different types of military ordnance, with a large amount of training also dedicated to the safe disposal of improvised explosive devices.

(Editor's note: Last names were omitted from this article for security reasons.)